Acton, MA — CAMI Research is introducing a new option for its CableEye HVX high voltage cable tester that permits expanded testing for contact and wire resistance as low as 1 milliohm. After checking for opens, shorts, miswires, and resistance limits, the new 4-wire Kelvin measurement applies a user-selectable test current from 10ma to 1amp to determine connection resistance within 1 milliohm. The resistance profile of a model cable may be stored and used as a basis of comparison during later testing to reveal cold solder joints, faulty crimps, recessed pins, pin contact contamination, improper wire gauge, and stress-extruded wire.

Four-wire measurement eliminates any effect of fixture resistance to obtain a precise value of the unit under test (UUT) resistance only. The same high-accuracy measurement may be obtained with a short fixture attached directly to the tester, or with a large wire harness fixture that may extend a considerable distance to reach the UUT.

Users may optionally set up a high-current stress test for wiring by driving up to 1amp of current through each conductor, and setting a dwell time from 100ms to 3 minutes. Increasing resistance during the dwell period may show problems not detected with a shorter measurement interval.

Individual conductors within a UUT may be independently disabled from 4-wire or high voltage test by user selection to avoid potential damage to fuses or other sensitive components. Users may also independently set different test currents for each conductor. The CableEye HVX system produces archival-quality reports with measurement data for each cable tested showing the test current and 4-wire resistance in addition to test voltage, leakage current, and insulation resistance. The report clearly denotes PASS or FAIL at the top of the report and will identify those wires which deviate from the expected tolerance. Reports may be printed, or saved by serial number as .pdf files, for future reference.

Built-in Javascript comes with each CableEye software package and permits highly flexible test automation, including data export to .csv or XML files for later import into Excel or statistical analysis software. An optional API with LabVIEW interface is also available.